The president of the nation's largest higher-education union plans to issue an urgent call for increased funding for the State University of New York in testimony before the state Legislature Monday.

United University Professions President William Scheuerman called Gov. George Pataki's Executive Budget "disappointing," saying he planned to ask the Legislature for an additional $153 million to cover mandated expenditures, enrollment growth and the hiring of more full-time faculty.

Since 1994, the union says, the number of full-time faculty in the SUNY system has declined by 11.5 percent, while the number of part-time faculty has grown 63 percent. At the same time, SUNY's student population has grown by 13,600 in the last five years.

"Without the $153 million that UUP and SUNY are requesting, the state-operated campuses will continue to deny thousands of students the opportunity to obtain high-quality public higher education in New York," Scheuerman said in the release.

The requested funds would go primarily toward "mandatory and base-level costs." The $153 million also includes $25.5 million to support 6,600 additional students and 300 new academic and professional faculty lines; $4 million for economic development and health programs; and $2.9 million to cover geographic cost differentials in the New York City and Hudson Valley areas.

Pataki's proposed budget authorizes SUNY to spend $85.3 million more but would likely necessitate a $500 tuition increase, the UUP says.

"The Executive Budget represents a missed opportunity to really address the issue of underfunding at SUNY," Scheuerman said in remarks he planned to make to the legislators. "The quality of education provided to over 200,000 students is at risk because of chronic underfunding."

Ten SUNY institutions, including the state colleges in Buffalo and Brockport, have seen budget cuts of more than 10 percent. "No other state department or agency has suffered (comparable) reductions during this time frame" he said.

The UUP also takes issue with a plan to transfer three SUNY hospitals to private nonprofit status, and opposes cuts to Medicaid.